When I'm walking under trees
I'm free to covet all I please
-Neko Case

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Commuting continued

I’m continuing to cycle to work despite daily 10-15
centimeter forecasts of snow in the B.C. Peace.
It’s not pleasant, enjoyable, pleasurable or any other synonym of the aforementioned
three kilometer commute. Chilly;
slippery; scary-mask wearing; uphill; dodging pickups spinning out and confused
motorists; winter cycling is turning into an extreme sport.

Would I love to remote start a vehicle and hop into its
waiting warmth instead of layering up and taking to two wheels? A loud YES! But I choose to be car free this
summer and am unwilling to pay for the convenience, ahem silliness, of owning a
car in a small town. Pedestrian and bike
friendly it is not – there’s an overwhelming lack of sidewalks, never mind bike
lanes in Chetwynd – but I maintain it’s better, or at least less bad, than
owning a vehicle.

As the handful of trails paralleling creeks that link schools
and subdivisions are better suited for dog walking, nature strolls and midnight
meanders than commuting I’m relegated to the road. A road which, throughout much of the province
is a bustling highway that briefly slows to 50 km/h, carries transports, log
and coal trucks and motorists baffled at sharing a lane with cyclists. Add in some concealed-by-the-snow ice and equally
hidden holes and it truly is a recipe for a deadly spill.

Sure, I’ve been offered rides but some lingering sense of
pride, stubbornness, or a desire not to be an inconvenience prevents me from
accepting. No longer employed in the
vicious, demanding and ultimately unforgiving forest industry, I still feel
there’s something to prove and a toughness that can only be cultivated in the
boreal to maintain. I recognize it’s
absolutely ridiculous to jump onto an exposed bicycle and slip around alongside
one-ton pickups yet I continue to do it – at least twice a day.

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About Me

A restless and occasionally reckless wanderer, Sheri divides her time between the boreal forest of Canada in the summer and Sun Place Else for the winters. She considers her valid passport her greatest asset as she is either in the middle of an adventure or planning the next.